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Saturday, 20.04.2024, 05:28
Lithuanian president sees post-election Germany as key partner in Europe
"Germany
is our most important economic, political and security partner in Europe, and
it will continue to be this," Grybauskaite told Vilnius journalists on September
25th.
Although the German conservatives triumphed in the
Sunday's elections, the line-up of the government may change. Observers say the
majority will probably be formed by the conservative, the green and the liberal
parties, as the Social Democrats who finished second in the polls are skeptical
about another coalition with the Merkel-led political force.
In the Lithuanian president's words, the composition
of the German ruling coalition should not have a major effect on the
pro-European and security policies.
"This is what matters the most to us,"
Grybauskaite emphasized.
"From Germany we always expect stability,
soundness and continuity, (…) preservation of democratic traditions and
pro-European position. Germany has never let a single country or Europe down,
this is what we expect now," she said.
Germany is the European Union's (EU) strongest economy
and one of Lithuania's key trade partners. Lithuanian officials attach
importance to securing Berlin support to financial aid in the EU budget to
decommissioning of the Lithuanian Ignalina nuclear power plant after 2020,
synchronization of electricity grids with Western Europe and the Rail Baltica
railway project.
In the past few years, Lithuania and Germany have
stepped up defense cooperation. Lithuania has been purchasing weaponry from
Germany, while Germans led a NATO Enhanced Forward Presence battalion stationed
in Lithuania.
Nevertheless, Vilnius has been criticizing the plans
of expanding the Nord Stream gas pipeline between Russia and Germany on the
bottom of the Baltic Sea, which would make Europe more dependent on Russian gas
and undermine Ukraine as a transit country. Germany dismisses it as a purely
economic project, which would facilitate lower gas prices.